Palin was joined by other major tea party favorites such as Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Steve King of Iowa, as well as conservative intellectual and activist Phyllis Schlafly at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Annual Family Banquet.The return of Sarah Palin

Palin has flirted with politics repeatedly since she left office halfway through her first term in Alaska, including a turbulent 2012 non-campaign for the Republican presidential nomination that she eventually abandoned.

In the important primary state, Palin spent the first part of her speech blasting the “war on Christmas” by secular society that she argues is stripping all public meaning from the holiday by opposing nativity scenes and other displays.

“Everywhere it seems that faith, religious freedom is under attack,” Palin said.

Those same topics are discussed in a new book Palin wrote called “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” a book for which she is currently on a national tour and that she discussed Saturday.

“The war on Christmas is just the tip of the spear in a larger battle,” Palin said, segueing into a discussion of what she sees as big government’s efforts to become a church in its own right.

That “church,” Palin said, comprises largely of President Barack Obama’s administration and scandals plaguing it such as NSA spying and the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last year.

“The crowning achievement of their church of big government,” Palin said, is Obamacare.

More should have been done to destroy Obama’s signature legislative achievement, Palin said, blasting Republicans who “waved the white flag of surrender” and gave up on the defund movement.

Palin also had words for the national debt, particularly the $1.3 trillion the U.S. owes China.

“It’s going to be like slavery when that note is due,” Palin said, while noting at the same time that the comparison “isn’t racist”

Like the rest of the event’s speakers, Palins words were deeply rooted in a Christian faith.

In her opposition to Obamacare, Palin was in good company. Lee was one of the key architects of the movement to defund the health care law that helped precipitate the partial government shutdown when Democrats flatly refused to pass a government funding bill that also sought to destroy Obamacare.

Lee carried a similar mantle Saturday to that of his better known anti-Obamacare ally, GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Like Cruz, Lee likened the Reagan revolution to the tea party movement, drawing comparisons to the original Boston Tea Party that preceded the American Revolution.

Lee compared the British government that the fledgling colonies fought 230 years ago with the Washington of today, a government “slow to respond to the needs to the people,” he said, people who are overtaxed and little listened too.

Conservatives should not be purely reactionary, Lee cautioned in a broad rallying cry of a speech. Rather, Republicans should focus on moving forward, he said, not just repealing Obamacare but replacing it with something better while instituting other forward-looking reforms such as establishing a path for upward social mobility.

Cruz highlighted the “road to Philadelphia” and the Constitutional Convention. Instead of just moving away from the government they didn’t want, Lee said of the Founding Fathers, they were “moving steadily, inexorably in the direction of the kind of government they did want.”

soundoff(583 Responses)

Maani

"Like the rest of the event’s speakers, Palins words were deeply rooted in a Christian faith."

No, it is rooted in a frighteningly narrow INTERPRETATION of Scripture. She is what we call an "Old Testament Christian," cherry-picking passages of Scripture and taking them out of context in order to support unloving, unforgiving and ultimately un-Christian positions. She is one of those who I believe would not know Jesus if He bit her on the ear.

November 10, 2013 05:10 pm at 5:10 pm |

Bull

Sarah is keeping alive her circus clown image.

November 10, 2013 05:11 pm at 5:11 pm |

spudnik56

Palin...the stupidest woman in America...

November 10, 2013 05:11 pm at 5:11 pm |

Jim

Lot's Obama Disciples here, I see !

November 10, 2013 05:14 pm at 5:14 pm |

FedUpwithLA

Maybe she DOES have something to say, but who will listen to her?

November 10, 2013 05:15 pm at 5:15 pm |

NANCY

Well I figure the well of attacks by Sarah on our government and anyone who has a brain has got to be soon over because she is now using Christmas to promote her weird and strange and stupid ideas. With that being said I wonder who really wrote the book?

November 10, 2013 05:15 pm at 5:15 pm |

Tony Signorelli

Religion DOES NOT belong in politics. Period. The same can be said for the moron Sarah Palin!!!!

November 10, 2013 05:17 pm at 5:17 pm |

whatyouare8891

And AGAIN....Palin's large mouth wide open and the mic a bit too close....in EVERY pic of her. She is nothing but a pop culture reality show character....attention-craving monster.

November 10, 2013 05:22 pm at 5:22 pm |

Rich Kerwin

Folks, She is not a Christian. She is a Christianist. There is an important distinction.

November 10, 2013 05:24 pm at 5:24 pm |

Warren

Wow! What a gathering: Steve "canteloupe-calves" King, Sarah "the Dingbat" Palin. Sort of like a traveling ciecus.

November 10, 2013 05:25 pm at 5:25 pm |

indyraseigo

Take a seat Sarah.

November 10, 2013 05:28 pm at 5:28 pm |

disgusted01

She altmost looks like one of the witches they burned, during the early years that she wants us to go back to...go figure!

November 10, 2013 05:34 pm at 5:34 pm |

disgusted01

Yes Sarah, lets go back in time. At a time when Women had no rights, I'm sure all women want to go backwards.

November 10, 2013 05:36 pm at 5:36 pm |

steve-0

Why is there no one listening to me??

November 10, 2013 05:39 pm at 5:39 pm |

Tom in Desoto, TX

What does ANYONE listen to the honorary Kartashian?

November 10, 2013 05:43 pm at 5:43 pm |

Kirsten

War on Christmas, really? It is literally shoved down our throats by September 1st when most retailers have all their stuff out. Nice try, but that isn't working Palin.

November 10, 2013 05:44 pm at 5:44 pm |

Tom in Desoto, TX

Why does ANYONE listen to the honorary Kardashian?

November 10, 2013 05:44 pm at 5:44 pm |

SactoNana

I'm already seeing plenty of public Christmas displays. All I need do is visit a local shopping mall. It's only Veteran's Day weekend, but Christmas is everywhere! There's more of a war on Christmas going on with stores which have decided to open on Thanksgiving to facilitate a jump start on Black Friday. Thus robbing their employees of time with their families on that day!

November 10, 2013 05:46 pm at 5:46 pm |

tony

"Blast" is a term that has no meaning here, except perhaps to CNN.

Lots of everyday, unimportant, people say strange things all time. But what keeps them that way, is not reporting it on CNN as though it was actual news.

November 10, 2013 05:50 pm at 5:50 pm |

adibese

To make a viable second party, the GOP needs to abandon the Christian ideals and adopt a more sane and moderate approach. I don't know how they got on this road of insanity. It may have started with Palin herself? Reagan was Christian but a moderate one. Try to get another Reagan, not the current clowns.

November 10, 2013 05:52 pm at 5:52 pm |

Peter

"Those same topics are discussed in a new book Palin wrote called “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” a book for which she is currently on a national tour and that she discussed Saturday."

So this is a book tour to drum up sales?

Gosh, what a surprise.

November 10, 2013 05:56 pm at 5:56 pm |

If I had a hammer... I'd whack you in the morning

Hillary will clean your clock and ground check you twice girlfriend.

November 10, 2013 06:02 pm at 6:02 pm |

Johnjon

when will this clueless woman go away?

November 10, 2013 06:03 pm at 6:03 pm |

Zack S

Who is this woman? Was she famous at one time or something? Is she related to the Kardashian's and that is why some people listen to her?